Poll: 20 most annoying office habits

Poll: 20 most annoying office habits

Leaving desks untidy, loos unclean, flirting incessantly and conveniently forgetting about borrowed money. Here are 20 of the most annoying office habits that totally turn us off. Vote for the one that annoys you the most!

Many of us spend more time in our offices than we spend at home. Our colleagues form a more integral part of our lives than our spouses ever will.

Some of us have worked with and known their colleagues for longer than they've known their wives.

That really does say something about a workplace doesn't it?

It won't be unfair to say that little things our co-workers do probably tick us off more than what our partners do at home

So here's a list of the 21 most annoying office habits that make us want to kill our colleagues:

Untidy desks

Some of us like to keep our desks spic and span -- papers in order, pens, pencils and other stationery in one corner, the computer screen at a particular angle and no other.

But universe has a way of balancing things out.

So on the other end of the spectrum, are those who survive because of the madness without the method.

The less we speak about their desks the better -- cluttered, messy and always in a state of complete chaos! Don't be surprised if you happen to find a week-old salad somewhere beneath those piles of papers and junk.

Be glad.

We can assure you that somewhere in there will be a piece of pizza that was ordered last Diwali.

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Illustration: Dominic Xavier

Image: Look under the pile of documents and you might just find a pizza ordered during Diwali

Being sexist

Despite his annoying habits, no real flirt will ever say anything nasty to any woman. It's simply not in his nature -- being nasty to a woman or sexist doesn't fit into his scheme of things.

The sexist on the other hand will make sure you're made to feel miserable about being a woman, tell you exactly what you should do and pass remarks that will make you want to aim a kick at his you-know-what.

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Speaking loudly over the phone

Picture this: you're sitting there poring over the all-important presentation you're supposed to make when he walks in, his new iPhone welded to his ears, hard selling some product of your company to a prospective client at the decibel of a vuvuzela.

Try explaining that you need to work and he'll probably just give you a why-the-hell-are-you-disturbing-me look, roll his eyes and continue talking anyway, without any change in his pitch or volume.

These are the guys who make you wish people came with a volume control knob!

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Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Image: It doesn't matter what you may be doing when Mr All Important has to make a call

Playing loud music

We suppose most of those who play music out loud are the 'creative' types you find in media houses and ad agencies. Or else the techies who like to believe they're writing poetry in the binary language.

Whether anyone is getting disturbed or not is quite simply not their concern.

The hitch with both these characters is that neither seems to be aware of the technological advancement in hardware. There is, as some of us would know, a wonderful invention called yep a pair of headphones.

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Pinching your stationery

Admit it, however old some of us get, our fascination with stationery never ends. The colourful paper clips, post its and freshly sharpened pencils do kinda add some personality to the desk, don't they?

Then of course the stationery pincher makes his appearance. In the middle of the night, when the last of the lights has been turned off and the security is done with his last round of the day, the stationery pincher emerges from his hiding.

And before you know it, when you clock in the next morning it's gone -- first the stapler, then that lovely note pad, followed by the pens -- of all four colours, even the whiteboard marker and finally the pen stand!

Guess that's what you get when you've pinched all of that from the office stationery cupboard!

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Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Image: The stationery pincher won't even spare that bunch of executive bond papers you like on your desk

Being on Facebook / Twitter / Gtalk all-the-time!

Everyone's on some social media these days but there are those who even in the middle of a huge crisis manage to get the time to poke their friends on facebook, chat with their girlfriends/boyfriends/husbands/wives/mothers/daughters/(you get it right) on GTalk and tweet about how bored they are with life.

Much as we hate the idea of blocking these sites in office, seeing these characters makes you understand why (for once) the IT administrator is justified in doing what he did.

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Illustration: Dominic Xavier

Image: In some cases social networking has taken precendence over work

Digging their noses

Sure everyone does it once in a while. But there's a place and time, right? Not smack in the middle of a board meeting where you're digging into a plate of biscuits and snacks after you've sufficiently dug into the deep recesses of your nose.

Ew. Grose!

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Listening in to your telephone conversations

So you've taken a personal call at your desk and are probably talking about how Ramaa maasi is being a pain in your cousin's neck.

After a good 15-minute talk about maasi, her family, your cousin and her girlfriend/boyfriend (who as it turns out is the bone of contention) you turn around and see your colleague staring right at you and without so much blinking an eyelid launches off: "I had the same problem "

Erm ok we know you love to share your family affairs with the world but does it look like we do too?

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Gossiping

First off, it's a myth that only women gossip. We can assure you from personal experience that men indulge in as much office gossip as the women.

Of course the kind of gossip might differ a little bit but really there isn't anything as annoying as seeing a bunch of colleagues gossiping by the coffee machine which means one of the two things: a) They're keeping you out or b) they're gossiping about you which is most annoying!

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Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Image: Gossiping can be annoying, especially if you've been kept out of it :-)

Getting drunk at office parties

Sure office parties are fun! Everyone's having a great time, letting their hair down and you finally get the chance to chat up that hottie from marketing you've been eyeing for the last s-e-v-e-n months.

The sad part -- and it's really sad we think -- are those who get drunk.

Of course we do find the drunk men who dance on tables immensely funny but the ones who start hitting on women about two pegs down are the ones who deserve to smacked in the face.

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'Ony I can Do It'

Delegating, they say, is an art that's difficult to master. It's the thin line between delegating nothing to delegating EVERYTHING that matters.

Sure we've come across bosses who like to have their minions do every single thing and scoot off home at the stroke of six.

The worse though are those who insist on having everything their way.

So even if they do assign you a task, they'll probably spend 20 minutes telling you just how you should do it, follow it up with the same long list of instructions via email and then finally a telephone call where you'll get to hear about it all over again before of course being told how you didn't get it right. Sigh!

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